Profit drop for Van de Velde

Lingerie manufacturer Van de Velde, known for the Marie Jo and PrimaDonna brands, experienced a 5.4 % group profit decrease following investments. These are meant to get the sales back on track, now that they are starting to slow down after twenty years.

Slight turnover increase confirmed

The company announced a slight turnover increase mid-July: its consolidated like-for-like turnover in the first half of 2017 grew 1.2 % to 117 million euro, the manufacturer now confirms.

Its wholesale turnover grew 1.6 % and its retail sales even spiked 3 %: its PrimaDonna bathing suit collection continues to perform well and its newly-introduced sporting collection is “extremely successful”. Including negative exchange rate fluctuations and several store closures, turnover did drop 1.1 %.

The company’s rebitda dropped 6 % to 36.3 million euro and its operating profit reached 20 million euro, down 5.4 % compared to the same period last year, when it posted a 21.1 million euro profit.  

Higher investments

The profit drop is mostly because of increased investments, about 2 million euro, to position its brands, expand its new channels (including eCommerce and digitization) and its logistics. “These investments into the company’s future will cause higher expenses in 2017 and 2018”, the Schellebelle-based company said. The measures “will only contribute to sustainable turnover and profit growth in the next few years”.

For the remainder of the year, the board forecasts a status quo: “Vandevelde’s markets and channels face a challenging retail environment and the negative British pound” will result in the fact that “2017’s total turnover will not grow compared to 2016”.